10 September 2012 New York, USA - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Sally Fegan-Wyles of Ireland as Acting Head of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Ms. Fegan-Wyles will replace Carlos Lopes, who has been appointed Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa. The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Lopes for his dedicated service to the United Nations and for his able leadership of both UNITAR and the United Nations Staff System College.

With more than 30 years of service as an international civil servant in the United Nations system, Ms. Fegan-Wyles brings to the position a wealth of experience, which includes leading and managing the complex Organization’s development operations, coordinating system entities and supporting change-management processes, both at Headquarters and at the country level.

Her most recent position was Senior Adviser on System-Wide Coherence in the Office of the Deputy Secretary-General, where she led the inter-agency team that prepared the blueprint for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), in addition to establishing the process to merge the four constituent departments, institutions and programmes.

Before joining the Office of the Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Fegan-Wyles was Director of the United Nations Development Group Office from 2001 to 2008. Prior to that, she served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania from 1998 to 2001. She also served with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 1980 to 1998, first as Health Economist, then Programme Officer and finally as Representative in Uganda (1986-1991), and Zimbabwe (1991-1995). In 1995, she joined the Change Management Team in UNICEF New York, where she was responsible for field management effectiveness.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1954, Ms. Fegan-Wyles graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from Trinity College, Dublin, and a Master of Science in social planning in developing countries (with distinction) from the London School of Economics.